Mark Babatunde is a believer in the wonders of rice and beans. Quite thin and very nervous, he likes to laugh out loud in his high pitched voice just to enrage his nice neighbors. He has a bucket list that includes jet skiing from Lagos to London. He is also a wannabe nudist, a civil engineer and the biggest fan of the Simpsons.

Mr. Ogunlesi, is the CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm, a Fortune 500 company with a majority stake in London’s Gatwick Airport.
Photo Credit: African Celeb

US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Wednesday that he is dissolving the Strategic and Policy Forum. This meant the firing of all its members, including Nigerian-born Adebayo Ogunlesi.

The Strategic and Policy Forum is a council of business leaders who advise the president on the economy. The Vanguard reports that Mr. Ogunlesi, the only African on the forum, was appointed by Trump last Dovember.

His company, Global Infrastructure Partners is a private equity firm and a Fortune 500 company that owns a majority stake in London’s Gatwick Airport. He also serves on the board of the New York Presbyterian Hospital, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

The Strategic and Policy Forum was one of the two advisory councils disbanded by President Trump on Wednesday. The other was the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative Council. President Trump announced the dissolution of both panels via a twitter post.

In the tweet, President Trump claimed he was dissolving both panels because he did not want to put pressure on the business leaders who were members of both the manufacturing council and strategy and policy forum.

But reports by TheNew York Times claim that President Trump’s sudden dissolution of the advisory councils was meant to pre-empt a mass resignation by its members.

President’s Trump’s refusal to outrightly condemn a recent rally by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia sparked widespread condemnation from all sides of the American political and business establishment.

Outraged by Trump’s bigotry, key members of the Strategic and Policy Forum were already considering resigning their appointments, with Kenneth Frazier (Merck), Kevin Plank (Under Armour) and Brian Krzanich (Intel) of the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative Council having reportedly handed in their resignation.

A day before he announced the dissolution of the both forums, Trump disparaged the members who resigned, tweeting this:

“For every CEO that drops out of the manufacturing council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. Jobs!”